Silent Hill: Redemption
by Musashi
Summary: Michelle Rede hasn't had an easy time the past year. Her diary chronicles her decision to leave her home for a vacation... in Silent Hill.
1. Teaser

Silent Hill: Redemption (Teaser)

By Musashi

Tragedy strikes Michelle Rede's life. At age 25, she has lost her three-year-old daughter and her husband to an automobile accident and her house in a fire.

Plagued by nightmares, she takes the advice of her therapist and begins keeping a diary. Writing the nightmares out on paper gives her temporary release from the terror. After the fire, the dreams worsen, and she takes the insurance money from the two accidents and leaves town.

At the recommendations of several people in surrounding towns, Michelle travels to Silent Hill. When her vehicle crashes into an impassable obstacle that seems to appear in the road near the center of town, she is thrown into the most confusing and frightening experience of her life... or so it seems.

-

"Dreams aren't real. Nightmares are."

-

"...And then I _was_ the girl, trapped within that burnt, useless body, in the darkness of those mummifying bandages..."

-

"...Alessa?"

"No... My name's Michelle."

-

"The air is oppressive here, reeking of death, despair, and decay. Fear... is everywhere."

-

"There is... blood... all over..."

-

"She looks like me, but the name... is Alessa."

-


	2. Chapter 1

Silent Hill: Redemption  
By Musashi

Disclaimer: I don't own Silent Hill, but I do own this story. Any original characters, places, things, and/or ideas belong to me. Any from the original game belong to Konami. Have I made my point?

Notes: Italics in parenthesis are sounds.

-

"That was very bad of you!"

"But I'm not a bad girl... I'm not... Wait, Mommy! Where are you going!? Don't leave me here alone..!!"

-

October 2, Diary of Michelle Rede

The anguished cries of children wrench the heart like nothing else... mine especially. I lost my only child in a car crash. She and her father, my husband, were both killed.

The driver who ran into them was drunk, and survived.

I was there, in the courtroom, when they sentenced her. She won't see outside prison walls for a long time.

I joined MADD... I wanted to do what I could to keep this from happening to anyone else.

The nightmares, however, wouldn't stop.

I see a child... She looks like my Sarah, but older, maybe what Sarah would have looked like today if she had not died.

An older woman, a woman who looks insane, is scolding the girl. She locks the child into a small, dark, windowless room. I can feel the young girl's fear as if it were my own.

"Mommy! Where are you going!? Don't leave me here alone..!!"

It hurts my heart, my soul. Then my body, as the house begins to burn. It's a dream, but I feel the heat of the flames licking at my skin, even as I lose sight of the door to the child's prison.

"Mommy!"

The woman, her mother, stands there laughing, and I run. Something chases... A mutated, dog-like creature. It leaps, hitting the center of my back, and I fall. My gun--where did I get a gun?--flies out of my hand to hit the floor a distance away. Too far away, but I have to get it, have to kill the monster...

I woke last night from this nightmare, sweating, my vision obscured by the leaping flames. I was forced to leave my own house.

It was small, and the firemen were unable to stop the flames before they completely ate the house. I was helpless to do anything other than watch five years of memories go up in smoke. All of the photographs I had of Sarah and Jacob are gone, along with the rest of my worldly possessions.

I need a vacation. I think I'll leave town once I get my money from the insurance company.

Co ve.

-

October 26, Diary of Michelle Rede

This diary, I have decided, is the best way to release my anxieties and is, according to my therapist, very good for my mental health. I didn't have the nightmare for three weeks after writing it down, but recently it has returned with a vengeance.

On a lighter note, upon receiving the collective $150,000 my house and all of the possessions inside of it were insured for, and adding to that all the money in my bank account, I have pulled up roots, loaded my new Explorer with everything I might need for a long road trip--new clothes and foods I can eat on the go--and left town. I plan to cruise until I find a new place to settle.

I have left behind everything of my old life, with the exceptions of the few photos my parents had of Sarah and Jacob that they were willing to part with. These momentos rest on my dashboard right now, and will always go with me, even into this new life.

Look out new world, here I come!

Co ve.

-

October 28, Diary of Michelle Rede

While life on the road has seemed to agree with me these past few days, I have heard about a nearby town that sounds like a pleasant place to stay for a while. It's a sleepy town that used to be a bustling tourist trap, a resort, according to my waitress where I had breakfast this morning.

Silent Hill, I think she called it.

Certainly sounds like a sleepy place. I think I'll check it out.

I've also purchased a micro-casette recorder. Maybe I can use it to help with my diary writing.

Co ve.

-

Transcribed from the _Verbal Diary of Michelle Rede, October 29_

Michelle- "So this is Silent Hill. It's beyond sleepy. I don't see anyone. Nothing's moving, in--OH MY GOD!"

(_The screech of tires, the tearing of metal, the shattering of glass_)

M- "Oh my God... Oh my God..."

(_The tinkling of broken glass being swept aside, the microphone brushing against cloth)_

M- "Oh, it's still on... F-for the record, I have just been in an accident... There is some sort of... boulder, or meteorite, blocking the road... It's black, pitted, and has sunk deep into the road from what I can see.

"I couldn't see it before; it's too dark tonight. I hit the brakes and swerved when I saw it in my headlights, and my passenger's side was smashed into it, as well as the front of the Explorer on that side. I'm alright, but I don't think this car's going anywhere..."

(_A car door opens, feet crunch on rocks_)

M- "I'm outside now, and it's insanely cold for October. Wait... I have to get my jacket."

(_Noise of movement; the microphone brushes cloth again_)

M- "...There. I estimate I am about in the center of town, now. There's no way around this rock, and my car's totalled, anyways. I'm going to get my backpack and put some food and my money in it, then head back to see if I can find someone to help me out."

(_Click_)

-

Transcribed from the _Verbal Diary of Michelle Rede, October 30_

Michelle- "This town isn't sleepy, it's abandoned! Empty cars, empty houses, everywhere! Shops are boarded up, doors are locked... They didn't leave in a hurry, but they certainly left."

(_Two soft clicks_)

M- "I broke into an empty house to spend the night last night. There's no electricity, but the plumbing works. I never again want to take a cold shower on an autumn morning.

"I checked the fuse box, but nothing was wrong with it. The electricity seems to be out all over town. Thank God for flashlights.

"I had another nightmare last night. It seemed to take place after the fire. The little girl was in the hospital, but older. She was wrapped up in bandages, like a mummy, but I knew it was her.

"Her mother was there, and a doctor. They were talking, but I couldn't understand what they said. Then I _was_ the girl, trapped within that burned, useless body, inside the darkness of those mummifying bandages, and I was hurting and I was crying..."

(_The catch of a sob, then a slowly inhaled and exhaled breath_)

M- "I'm okay now. I'm going to go outside to take another look around town. Maybe I can find something new in the daylight."

(_A door opening, feet touching and slightly scuffing concrete, door slamming shut_)

M- "I can't lock it, but that shouldn't be a problem. Hey, there's something in the mailbox; the lid's not shut completely. It was empty last night."

(_Metal hinges squeak, metal scrapes metal, metal lid clangs shut_)

M- "It's... the gun. From my nightmare about the fire. A nine millimeter, fully loaded. There were extra clips, too. I've put them in my packpack, the gun in my jacket pocket.

"Oh, and if anyone who ever listens to this tape is curious, I have the recorder in the inside pocket of my jacket, and the extending microphone is clipped to the collar."

Distant Voice- "Help!"

M- "What was that? It sounded like a man's voice, like he's yelling."

(_Feet pound pavement, running_)

M- "It... it's geting foggy... Colder, too."

Voice- "Get the hell away from me!"

(_Gunshot_)

M- "That wasn't my gun! Whoever it was has his own, it seems!"

(_Feet pound pavement, running again_)

M- "Oh! Those dog things!"

(_Loud gunshot_)

M- "That was mine... I hit it. It's dead... There's a man on the ground. Brown hair, lab coat over black jeans and a shirt. Black tennis shoes. He isn't moving... but he has a pulse.

"If you can year me, wake up!"

(_Flesh hitting flesh lightly_)

M- "I slapped him lightly, his eyes opened..."

Man- "Who... are you talking to?"

M- "You're okay! ...Aren't you?"

Man- "Bleeding a bit, but I'll survive. Who were you talking to?"

M- "My audio diary."

Man- "...I see. My name is Richard Coeur... Doctor Richard Coeur."

M- "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Richard- "...Alessa?"

M- "No, my name is Michelle. Michelle Rede."

R- "...I see. Help me up, would you?"

M- "Okay."

(_Brush of cloth, crunching footsteps_)

M- "H-hey! What are you--?"

(_Gunshot_)

M- "Give that...! Leave that alone!"

(_Click_)

-

Transcribed from the _Verbal Diary of Michelle Rede, October 30 (Later)_

Michelle- "Finally. Coeur took my gun, my backpack, and my recorder. I thought he broke this, but it obviously still works.

"I don't know where I am. Coeur was a lot stronger than he looked, and he must have knocked me out when he took my things from me, but I don't remember it. I woke up here about an hour ago, and all I had with me was my recorder.

"This room is dark, metallic, and sparsely furnished. The bed creaks, and there are dark stains in the mattress which show through the white sheets. The table by the bed has a water-damaged picture of a young woman. She looks like me, but the name in the corner is Alessa."

(_A soft thunk_)

M- "That's odd. Isn't Alessa what Coeur called me? It must be a coincidence.

"There's another metal table here, in the corner behind the door. There are some empty pill bottles on it.

"This place is familiar, and I don't like it! I want out!"

(_Click_)

-

Verbal Record, October 31

Coeur- "Michelle, is it?"

Michelle, dull voiced- "Yes."

C- "Now, don't act that way. We're using your recorder to record this conversation because it is something you might want to hear again later. Happy Halloween, by the way.

(_Michelle snorts, a chair scrapes_)

M- "Kidnapping is a federal offense, you know! You could be arrested!"

C- "Can you find an officer of the law to report it to?"

M- "I will--"

(_Gunshot_)

C- "Ahhh?"

M- "...Oh my god... you've been shot..."

C- "I am perfectly aware of that! ...My God, there's a hole in my stomach..."

(_Thud_)

M- "He's... dead? There's a girl in the door... she looks like me, like the girl in the picture... Alessa?

"She won't say anything... now she's walking away... Alessa!"

(_Recorder scrapes, feet clang on the metal floor as someone runs_)

M- "Alessa, wait! She's gone... I don't see any sign of her..."

(_Thunk_)

M- "What... my gun! Oh, my backpack! Everything's still in it... and my jacket, too!"

(_Microphone rubs cloth as Michelle rearranges everything_)

M- "Thank you, Alessa..."

(_Feet move steaedily across a metal floor_)

M- "Now this place seems to be the hospital from my most recent nightmare... I had it again last night. I think Alessa may have been the girl in the bandages, and the girl that was in the fire. How did she survive?

"This place is dark... EW! Giant cockroaches!"

(_Crunchcrunch_)

M- "When I say giant, I mean giant... I just stepped on a cockroach that was about two feet long. They're everywhere... I'm going to try to avoid them. Here, let me turn on my flashlight, so..."

(_Click_)

M- "Oh, wonderful... They want to avoid the light. This will be quite helpful.

"This place feels so horrifyingly familiar... All dark gray metal... Oh, a ladder."

(_Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang..._)

M- "This seems to be a storeroom. The walls are metal, and so is the floor, and streaked with what I hope is rust. Through the door... now there are metal shelves, some with empty bottles, some bottles not empty.

"Out of the storeroom, into the basement... The air is oppressive here, reeking of death, despair, and decay. Fear. Yes, fear is everywhere.

"Stairs... Good. I want to get out of here."

(_A heavy metal door opens, then slams shut loudly_)

M- "OH! Oh, that scared me... the stairway is dark, and close... I don't like this. I'm very claustrophobic.

"Okay, out the top... onto what I hope is the ground floor. To my right... a waiting room of sorts, with rusted vending machines. To my left, a turn in the hallway, and some doors.

"The walls and floor here are also rust-streaked. It's disgusting; hospitals should be sterile.

"There is... Oh, God, what is that!?"

(_Moaning and shuffling footsteps_)

M- "It... looks like a doctor... he's bent over, and there's something sticking out of his back and wriggling around... There is.. blood.. all over his lab coat. He... he has a knife! Oh... he doesn't seem to notice me. He's walking right past... Okay, so I'm going in the opposite direction.

"I don't want to go in any of the doors... I wish the electricity was on... There, double doors. A lobby, hopefully."

(_Hinges squeak laboriously_)

M- "Great.. this is definately a lobby. There's where the receptionist should sit, there are the tables with the old magazines. There... is the door! The way out!

"The.. door won't open!! Let me out of this nightmare!"

(_Thud_)

(_Click_)


	3. Chapter 2

Silent Hill: Redemption  
Part Two  
By Musashi

A/N: I apologize to anyone who grew greatly attached to the diary format. I may go back to it, but for this part, at least, I required the descriptive power of the format I'm used to writing in. I also apologize for how late it is; in the class I typed the first part in, I was no longer able to use the computer, and I don't really have a lot of time on my hands elsewhere. Oh, and if anything is not as it was in the game, my excuse is that this takes place several years later. Things were moved. ^_~  
  


Michelle Rede slowly woke again. Events were jumbled in her mind; in fact, when she realized that she was out in the fog again, with the bodies of the two dead mutant dogs lying near her, she wondered if the entire hospital ordeal had been a dream.

She pulled the micro recorder from her jacket pocket and rewound it a bit, then pressed PLAY.

"...Let me out of this nightmare!" her own voice called to her, panicked.

"It was real," Michelle whispered. "Then how...?" She cut off at the sight of something red moving through the mist towards her. A muttering voice moved with it.

"Demons and darkness, I swear this is something out of a horror movie... What's going on in this bloody town?" It was a man's voice, low and irritated, tilted by a faint European accent.

Carefully, Michelle stood, pulling her gun from her pocket. She gripped it tightly with her right hand, then snapped it up, pointing it at the red as she supported it with her right fist with her left.

"Whoa!" The man, noticing her, threw his hands into the air in a gesture of surrender. "Hold your fire! I'm unarmed!"

Michelle lowered the gun, but only slightly. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"I should be asking you the same question," he replied warily. "So far I 'aven't seen a single normal 'uman in this bloody town, and now I find one pointing a gun at me? What brings you to Hell?"

"I don't think that's any of your business!"

"Well, you 'andled yourself well with those demon dogs, it seems. I don't know why you'd be afraid of me then, seeing as I'm not 'alf as dangerous." He smiled charmingly at her, ruggedly handsome face lighting up with the expression, even as his pale eyes narrowed. "I'm not even armed."

"I doubt that. You would be dead if you've had experience with these things" she kicked a dog to illustrate "and weren't armed."

"Smart girl." The man took a step back and bent over, pulling a knife from the top of his combat boot. "I admit that it's not a match for your gun there, though."

"True..."

"My name is Samuel. What's yours?"

The gun lowered a few inches more. "Michelle."

"Excellent. Well, Michelle, as you are better equipped for this Hell-on-Earth than I am in means of weaponry, and you look a bit jumpy with none to watch your back, what say we stick together now that we've found each other?"

"I suppose..."

"Excellent. Now, I'm not much fond of standing around in the open like this. The map I picked up from the touristry department-" Michelle quirked an eyebrow at him, but he continued. "-says that there's a school not far from here. Schools should be secure buildings, right?"

"You talk a lot."

He laughed. "So I 'ave been told!"

"You're going to attract the monsters." Thus said, she headed off in the direction of the school. How she knew which way the school was, she wasn't sure.

"'Ey, wait..." Samuel came after her, jogging a bit to catch up with her determined headstart.

"What?"

"We need to stick together, or we should be getting in trouble..."

"Whatever..." Michelle already felt irritated by this handsome stranger's mannerisms, and wondered how long she would have to put up with them.

-  


The minute Michelle crossed the threshold into the school, she sighed. It was dark, although it had been light a moment earlier. She looked at Samuel.

"Do you have a watch?"

He nodded, the movement sending semi-long black hair into those disturbingly pale eyes. "It's 'alf-past one."

"In the afternoon?"

He nodded again. "Odd how dark, eh?"

"Indeed." Michelle felt a disturbing apprehension as she crossed the small vestibule and pushed the double doors open. She stepped into the hallway that the doors led to, Samuel's large form a strong presence just behind her.

A sickening feeling spread from her stomach all throughout her body as her first steps squelched on the floor. She pointed the flashlight down, following the beam to the thin layer of sticky blood that covered the tile. Looking down to the doors at either end of the hallway, she saw that no tile was left uncovered by the fluids.

Bile rose in her throat and she pushed past Samuel, back into the vestibule. He looked at her oddly, even more so when she started to scream.

The floor of the vestibule, spotlessly clean moments before, was covered in vomit.

"Michelle!" His hands gripped her shoulders. "What's wrong!?"

"Don't you see it!? Don't you see it!?" Her voice was panicked, even to her own ears. "The blood in there, the... the..." Bending over, despite his hold, she threw up onto the floor. 

"Michelle, calm down. There's nothing there. Close your eyes and take a deep breath."

She followed his instructions, feeling an inexplicable calm flooding her mind and body. When she opened her eyes again, the floor was perfectly clean. Turning, she saw that the hallway floor was clean as well.

"What...?"

"Maybe your day has been a bit more stressful than I thought," he mused, and she wondered at his sudden change in manner. "Perhaps you were 'allucinating something. Look: the nurse's office." He guided her into a room that looked like a doctor's examination room. For a brief instant, she saw the image of rusted walls, rusted tables, and a blood-soaked gurney in place of the sterile examination table. A shriek rose in her throat, but as quick as the image was there, it was gone, chased away by Samuel's reassuring presence.

He made her sit on the examination table, rummaging through the medicine cabinet. She couldn't see the words on the white label of the bottle he drew from behind the glass doors, but she could see the red cross on it. One of his hands touched under her chin, the other holding the bottle.

"Drink," he said, in a such a firmly gently voice that she couldn't help but comply. The queasiness left her stomach, the faint pounding in her head fled, and the terrible taste in her mouth was washed away.

"There," he said. "That's better now, isn't it? Just rest for a while; I'll go see if I can find a phone."

"You... don't go out there!" The panic returned in full force, and she gripped his hands. "There's something out there! I can feel it! Don't leave me alone!"

"We can't very well stay here for the rest of our lives, Michelle," he said quietly. "Now, I won't leave you alone for very long; give me ten minutes. If I don't find a phone, I'll return straightaway. Same if it doesn't work."

"And if you do? If it does?"

"Then I will call for help and come right back." He squeezed her hands reassuringly. "You will be alright, Michelle. Trust me."

And for some reason, she did.

He walked out, closing the door softly behind him. Not wanting to let her mind idle, Michelle hopped off the exam table and opened the medicine cabinet.

Curious, she picked up a small, clear glass vial. A cork was in the top, and small chunks of some white power littered the bottom. Beneath the vial was a red-backed notepad holding pages of hurried scrawl.

She took the notepad as well and sat back on the table. She pulled the cork from the vial, and an alluring, intoxicating, and somehow familiar aroma filled her senses. Automatically, she shoke one of the chunks from the vial and set it in her mouth to dissolve as she read the notepad pages.

"Dreams aren't real; nightmares are. Or so it seems. This school is a horrible funhouse for demons. Bloody fingerprints on the piano upstairs. Blood all over in the office.

"When I went into the clock tower, I found a metal-grated tunnel. When I came out of the tunnel--on the other side, mind you--I was back in the school, but a dark school of rush, blood, and bodies.

"This place must truly be Hell. Where is Cheryl?"

The words began to blur and dance before Michelle's eyes, letters twisting to form horrific images: cavorting demons, grinning skulls, bloody corpses.

Nausea assailed her stomach as the room spun, turning once again into the rusted room she had seen upon entering. Blood from the surface she sat on covered her hands and soaked into her jeans. She jumped off in a panic and backed into a corner.

Something rammed into the outside of the barred window by her head, the loud sound causing her to shriek and jump. Clawed feet scratched the glass in a futile attempt to get in, to get to her.

Another thud drew her attention, this one on the other side of the door. A moment later, the door began to open. She stood in wide-eyed horror as a demon, dark as the pits of Hell and taller than any man, walked in. It was the personification of darkness, of evil, and it had leathery wings half-folded behind it. Hands, wickedly clawed, gripped her shoulders. Michelle screamed.

  
  
  
End Notes: Cliffhanger! Bwah... Remember: In Silent Hill, nothing is as it seems. "Trust no one.".... .... ... Oh, wait, that's from the X-Files. Oh well. Silent Hill is a giant episode of the X-Files anyways, isn't it? I was going to make this one longer, but I decided that this was a good place to end off. Feedback, people! Ask questions! I'll try to answer them. Any theories about Samuel? How about theories about Michelle? What's the connection? And why didn't anyone say "_Co ve_" this chapter? Bwah.. the secrets of authors...


	4. Chapter 3

Silent Hill

Silent Hill: Redemption  
Part Three  
By Musashi__

A/N: Yay! It's back -^.^- Maybe I'll develop a diary-narrative-diary-narrative pattern?? Sorry this one has taken so long. I've been lazy and working a lot on my doujinshi and my new website format.__

Diary of Michelle Rede, Darktime

I'm not sure what day it is, or even what time. It's dark, as if it's night, but...

Samuel has built a fire. I think he used a few ruined books. This book I'm using for a diary, as he found it blank. Ooh, it's cold. I'm moving closer to the fire, closer to Samuel.

I can hear the scratching of clawed hands, the pitiful moans of the demon children just outside the library door. They can smell us, they know we're here. The bloodlust courses through their repulsive gray bodies...

But they are also afraid. They know the danger of fire, and they can smell the smoke. The floor is non-flammable tile, so there is no real danger, but they don't know that. The fear and anger are oozing beneath the door like a black liquid, crawling up my skin... The feelings make me want to cry. 

I feel safe, though. I feel protected, and I have ever since Samuel came to save me from myself in the school's clinic.

The creature came towards me, dark skinned, large, leathery wings; a demon, the embodiment of evil and terror. It came closer, and the fear inside of me swelled until I began to scream.

As i screamed, the creature's clawed hands gripped my upper arms, and it shook me.

"Michelle!" Samuel's voice said. "Snap out of it!"

I stopped screaming and opened my eyes. It _was_ Samuel, and the clinic was once again a clean sanctuary of health. Something snapped inside of mea, and I fell against him, sobbing. His arms came around me, gentle and strong at the same time. Comforting.

I must have blacked out, because when I looked up again, we were here in the library. This blank book was sitting beside me, a pen resting on the cover, and Samuel was stacking books ruined by what looked like dry blood in order to burn them. 

I shuddered.

I shudder now, remembering what he told me. The phones are out, the electricity is out, and the generator refuses to start. My left hand strays to the shotgun lying beside me as one of the children slams its body into the door. Sam found the shotgun... somewhere. He wouldn't tell me where, and he wouldn't tell me why there was a shotgun in a school. For the moment, however, I control the weapon. Samuel worries that if the creatures manage to get past the librarian's desk we used to barricade the door, they will come to attack me, the smaller of their two targets, their long arms swinging the knives held in deathgrips in their fists.

It's very comforting to write. I feel as though my death awaits me on the other side of the door, but writing I can push these feelings out of mind. But I have to stop now. Samuel had produced some sort of drinks, protein drinks, to have as a meal.

...Yum. _Co Ve_.

-

Diary of Michelle Rede - Time Unknown.

After we ate, Samuel stretched out by the fire to rest, leaving me to keep watch for a while. I sat beside the fire--the books burned well, if low, and were not consumed as quickly as I feared they would be--with the shotgun across my lap, listening.

The darkness was oppressive, thick with an evil power which weighed heavily on my mind and body. It seemed to mute all sounds, and an eerie silence settled over our safe haven. I could hear my heartbeat as a low thrumming throughout my entire body.

The rapid, rhythmic sound hypnotized me, and I closed my eyes, swaying a bit. The sound seemed to grow louder, as if it was the sound of the blades of a giant fan, spinning, spinning, spinning......

And the sound was broken by a squeak. The thrumming seemed to fade away as I opened my eyes, and I perceived the image of a blood-stained grinding fan retreating rapidly down a long, dark hallway in quick, flash-by-flash strobe images.

The squeak came again, and I looked around. I couldn't see anything. It came from the shadows beyond the firelight. Terror of the unknown pulsed adrenaline through my body, and my heart seemed to be trying to beat its way out of my chest.

I crawled over to Samuel and shook him awake, motioning for him to listen. He did, and his eyes widened as he heard the squeaking.

He made a small pained sound as I dropped the shotgun in his lap. My hands flew up to cover my mouth as what looked like a large-headed baby walked into the light, squeaking. The difference was that it was a translucent shadow of pure black. It toddled towards me, and abruptly vanished. The squeaking stopped.

I breathed a sigh of relief, and Samuel stood. He checked the shotgun's ammunition, then glared at me.

"You're too jumpy," he accused.

"Well, you heard it too." I stood, then screamed and fell backwards as something massive slammed into the door, tossing the desk backwards a few inches. I scrambled over to hide behind Samuel's legs, and he aimed the shotgun at the door.

I searched for my handgun, my fingers curling around the handle as the door exploded inwards. I looked up to see the creature standing in the doorway, partially illuminated by flickering firelight.

It filled the doorway, filled the broken hole that had been a doorway. Four grotesque, deformed arms with too many joints worked to get past the broad torso covered in fur and oozing a dark substance from every pore. The four legs seemed too thin to support the massive upper body, and they were arranged like the legs of a mantis. The creature's head was a deformed ovoid, and the waxy-fleshed face was disturbingly human. One of the two perfectly round eyes looked like it had slid down the melting face, removing the nose, replacing it with a gaping hole. The mouth hung slackly open, too large, half-filled with saw-like teeth.

The monster forced itself into the library and started towards us, arms swinging like a psychotic double windmill.

Samuel fired his shotgun, and the shot impacted on the torso, causing a spray of dark substance to go out in all directions. Droplets spattered on my face and hands, and the smell of decay filled my nose. I fired four quick shots at the creature's head as Samuel shot at the chest again.

One of the arms struck out, throwing Samuel to the floor. The man groaned and pulled himself completely into the darkness, then I heard him collapse on the floor.

Panicked, I fired wildly at the monster. By the time the clip was empty, a number of bullets had found their way into the open mouth. With a horrendous bellow, it twisted and writhed until it was a shriveled, smoking husk lying dead on the floor. Soon, that too melted away.

In the silence that fell so suddenlt, I crawled in the direction Samuel had fallen, my hands searching the darkness for him. My fingers brushed the hardness of the bottoms of his shoes. I followed the line of his leg to his waist, then easily found his face and patted his cheeks.

"Samuel? Samuel, wake up!" He groaned quietly, and I felt for the back of his head, discovering there a small lump that was rapidly developing.

"Ah... Michelle." His voice was quiet and hoarse. One of his hands moved to grip my wrist. He moved my hand to his cheek and leaned against it for a moment, then pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"The door is gone, I told him." It's not safe here anymore."

"It's no safer anywhere else." He carefully stood, and I stood with him.

"So, what do we do?"

"We'll push the desk back into the doorway and set it on fire. By the time it burns down, the night should be over."

I wasn't as confident as he was. "This night will never be over," I said quietly. I don't think he heard me.

I fell asleep writing in my diary. I can't believe it. But, well, yeah, I can believe it. I was exhausted.

The fire is almost gone, and I can't tell if the night is over. Samuel's giving me nasty looks and glaring at my diary. It's amazing how much he's changed in the short time since we met.

His accent has totally phased out, and he's acting more with annoyance towards me than with the indifferent stranger-to-stranger courtesy of before.

He just dropped my tape recorder into my lap. I think he wants me to use it instead of writing.

-

Transcribed from the _Verbal Diary of Michelle Rede, date unknown_

(Cloth brushes microphone as Michelle clips it to her shirt collar)

M- "There. Are you happy?"

Samuel- "Thank you."

M- "Hmph. You're such a pain."

S- "And you're acting like such a spoiled brat. Always scribbling in your diary, leaving your guard down. You'll get us both killed."

M- "Can we just get out of here?"

_(Loud crack)_

M- "AH! What was that!?"

S- "The desk split. Odd..."

M- "..What's odd?"

S- "Nothing. Come on. Get your bag and let's go. No use sitting around here any longer."

_(Footsteps)_

M- "The hallway is so dark..."

S- "It's probably still darktime."

M- "It will be dangerous..."

S- "After what you have just seen, you fear the outside more than the in? At least outside we can't be cornered as easily."

M- "...Alright."

_(Feet on stairs, a metal door creaks open)_

M- "This is the entry hallway. The exit is right over there..."

S- "Right. Let's go."

_(Another metal door opens, Michelle screams)_

M- "Oh my god of my god!"

S- "What!?"

M- "It's a pit--cages--AHH! Something in there is MOVING!!"

S- "Michelle, stop it! There is nothing there! It's another hallucination!"

_(Cloth scrapes the microphone)_

M- "PUT ME DOWN!! You'll make us fall in!"

S- "There is nothing there!"

_(Footsteps)_

M- "You... walked right over it... through it..."

S- "I told you... I'll put you down now."

M- "But... I still see it... Oh god... in that cage... that's Alessa..."

S- "No. No, it's not. You can't believe what you see, Michelle."

M- _(faint)_ Maybe it's me...

_(A door opens)_

M- "No! I have to help her! Don't pull me! She needs my help!"

_(The door slams shut)_

M- "No, get away from the door! I have to go back and help her..."

_(Something large slams into the door, metal screeches as it bends, Samuel grunts)_

M- "What... what was that?"

S- "...that is whatever set that illusion trap for you... Go. Run!"

M- "What about you!?"

S- "Dammit, GO!!!"

_(Footsteps hit pavement rapidly, the sounds of the creature hitting the door fade)_

M- "I'm alone again... One ally, and I can't even... I can't help anyone..."

_(Rocks scrape, Michelle screams, various sounds of scraping, tumbling, falling)_

_(Long silence)_

_(Michelle groans)_

M- "Ohh... I should have been paying attention... I fell into one of those pits... Nothing's broken. I'm not even bleeding, surprisingly... Hm... I can't see the houses up on the street, but there's a tunnel or cave or something just up the slope. Maybe I can get up there..."

_(Rocks scrape)_

M- "...There. It's a tunnel, just slightly taller than I am. ...ugh... But I don't have any other options, and maybe I can get to another part of town... Here, I'll just get my flashlight."

_(Long silence, broken only by steady footsteps)_

M- "This is a long tunnel. My stomach is growling at me. I think I have something in my bag... Yeah. A protein bar. Yuck. Oh well, if I can make myself get into a tunnel like this, I can make myself eat this cardboard. And it's food, anyways."

_(Silence again except for footsteps and chewing noises)_

M- "Mm. Better than I expected. Oh, hey, is that another opening? Great, it may be a way out. The ground is sloping up now. And... I'm out! Yay! ...Hmm."

_(Footsteps stop)_

M- "I'm not in town anymore, but I think I can see the town. Right here there is... a house. Two stories, maybe two and an attic, with a pond--a tiny pond--right next to it. It looks so abandoned, yet so familiar."

_(Footsteps, plastic rattles)_

M- "Oh! What's this? ...A child's toy. A little plastic three-wheeler. Pink and purple pastels, probably a little girl's. The seat lifts up... Huh. There's a locket in here. 'Alessa,' it says on the back. Hmm... this must be Alessa's house... Maybe now we'll solve the mystery. Oh, damn, the tape is--"

_(Click)_


End file.
